Closure.



MOWEQUK H. SPENGLER.

CLOSURE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 5, 1911. RENEWED JUNE 22, 19x2,

WITNESSES Patentd Oct. 7, 1913.

pnrrnn srarns partner orrron.

HENRY srnnennn, or new YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR 'ro ALFRED LIEBMANN, or

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

CLOSURE.

Specification of Letters- Patent.

Patented (lot. 7, 19118.

Application filed June 5, 1911, Serial No. (31,267. itenewed .Tune'22, 1912. Serial No. 705,312.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I HENRY SPENGLER, residing at New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Closures, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to caps or closures, particularly adapted for use as bottle closures, though their use is not limited to this relation.

One of the objects of the invention isto produce a device of the kind referred to which is readily put into place, which effectually accomplishes its sealing or covering function, and which may be removed without the use of any tools whatsoever.

The. invention provides a bottle cap having a central resilient portion normally bulged to one side of a plane and yieldable under pressure, said cap having means gripped to the bottle mouth while the normal bulge is maintained and released therefrom when the bulged portion is depressed, and said bulged portion adapted to spring away from said releasing position of its own resiliency.

In the accompanying drawings which are to be taken as a part of this specification, in which I have shown a merely preferred form of embodiment of the invention; Figure 1 is a view of the mouth portion of a bottle as an example of a member to whi my invention is applicable, showing an embodiment of the invention in place as it will appear when the bottle is sealed by it; Fig. 2 is a central sectional view of the subject matter of Fig. 1 with the bottle partly in elevation; Fig. 3 is a plan view of one of the closure member which may be employed in connection with my invention; Fig. 4c is a view similar to Fig. 2, but showing the relation of the parts when the closure device has been manipulated to enable it to be released from the bottle; and Fig. 5 is a central sectional view of the mouth part of a bottle provided with a modified form of embodiment of the inventhe mouth of the bottle substantially as shown in Figs. 2, 4, and 5, as is the case with the ordinary crown seal, and thi disk 3 is held with its peripheral portions compressed. against the edges of the bottle mouth by means of the closure member now to be described. This closure member comprises preferably a disk of resilient metal as shown in Fig. 2, having a permanent set causing it to bulge slightly in the center, as indicated at 4, and having peripheral fingers 5 which may be defined by slits 6 out in the periphery of the disk and extending radially or at least in the general direction. of the center of the disk. Such a device as is shownin Fig. 2 is placed over the mouth of a bottle,' with a sealing disk 3 interposed between it and the mouth of the bottle as shown in Figs. 2, 4 and 5, and

the peripheral fingers 5 bei'it downwardly by any appropriate means so that they will engage over and beneath the flange 2 of the bottle with such force as may be necessary to tightly seal the bottle, this operation being substantially similar to that which takes place in applying the ordinary crown seal. When the parts are thus in place as shown in Fig. 2, the central part of the disk will be dished outwardly as shown in said figure, and thefingers 5 will be bent abruptly downward from said central portion; it

being understood that the slits 6 which define said fingers should preferably be of such length that they will not extend inwardly beyond the bend of the fingers. If now pressure he applied centrally of the dished portion of the disk. so as to spring the same into the position of Fig. 4 (Which position it will hold until forced reversely) the leverage thus exerted on the fingers 5 will tend to spread the sameaway from the flange of the bottle, whereupon the closure may be readily removed. ltis contemplated that this 'operatlon should be done by hand, the pressure of the thumb upon the bulge of the disk being ordinarily sufficient where metal of the properthickness and resiliency is employed inthe mak-, ing of the disk; and the device may be sealed the second time, by springing the bulge back to its first position as shown in Fig. 2, and then forcing the contracted fingers over the bottle flange. Of course, in the case of such second use the grip would not be so strong as when the device is put on the first time, and the bottle might not be absolutely sealed. But in any event the device will serve in such second use as a cover. In case a "person should not be able to release the closure by thumb pressure, it will only be necessary to press the bulge against the corner of a table or the like.

I may provide a metallic closure madev eration the said central part shall be slightly outwardly bulged. lVith this structure the bulge of the closure need not be very pronounced, and yet the device will be effective for the purposes of the invention.

Referring to Fig. 5 I show an embodiment of the invention wherein the bulge of the disk is protected so that the device is not apt to be released accidentally. In thisembodiment 1 provide a bulge as before, and the periphery of the bulge is defined by an upwardly extending flange 7, from which extend the fingers 5 as .in the embodiment heretofore described. Thus the fulcrum for the lei-'erageexerted upon each finger 5 by the operation of the bulge is in the line of junction between, the bulge and, the upwardly extending part or flange 7 whilethe bulge is entirely below the plane of the inner ends of said fingers 5, so that the bulge can be operated only by pressure exerted in a directly downward direction. When the device of Fig. 5 is placed in position and the fingers 5 bent downwardly as shown, and under the flange 2 of the bottle, the sealing disk 3 will be compressed adjacent its peripheral edge between the mouth of the bottle and the edge of the bulge. If desired I may provide also an annulus 8, centrally cut out, and'tapering in thickness from the center toward the edges.- The object of this annulus is to provide a substantially flat top for the closure.

With respect to the forms of the invention thus described, it will be apparent that they may be embellished in the usual way by means of lithography or the like, preferably applied upon the central dished portion be fore they disk is bent into shape about the Furthermore the disk.

bodied in a bottle closure, but it is to be understood that I do not mean to limit it for use in connection with bu les of the type limiting sense.

indicated, but have in mind .its use as a closure for containers of any description.

Neither is it necessary that the disk should be circular; it might be of some other outline.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this inven tion could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a It is also to be understood that the language used in the following claims is intended to cover all of the-generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention, which as a matter of language, might be said to fall ther'ebet-ween.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desireto secure by Let ters Patent is: 1

1. vA bottle closing cap comprising a resilient disk having a central bulged portion capable of being sprung into two reverse po-. sitions, the bulge being on one side of a plane when one of the two positions is assumed, and on the other side of the plane when the other position is assumed, and fingers integral with said central portion and depending from the periphery thereof at one side of said central portion in circular arrangement, said fingers being separated frcm each other, the free ends of said fingers, when the bulge issprung away from the fingers, moving toward the center ofthe circle on which they are arranged, and, when the bulge is sprung into its second position or toward the fingers, moving awayfrom the center of said circle.

2. -A bottle closing cap comprising a resilient disk having a" central bulged portion capable of being sprung into two reverse positions, the bulge being on one side of a plane when one of the two positions is assumed, and on the other side of the plane when the other position is assumed,and fingers integral with said central portion and depending from the periphery thereof at one side of said central portion in circular arrangement, said fingers being separated from each other, the free ends of said-fingers, when the bulge'is sprung away from the fingers, moving toward the center of the of. the bulge when the latter is sprung into position awayfrom the fingers.

3. A cap for bottles or the like having a intranet central portion and separated fingers depending therefrom and integral therewith, said central portion having a permanent set causing it to bulge outward when said fin- .gers are in gripping position, said fingers Y mately thereto, whereby the ca is capable of reuse after being used and re eased. 4. Acap for bottles or the like consist of a single piece of sheet metalhaving a'central portion and a series of fingers, said separate fingers being integrally connected with the central portion," and normally adapted to occupy inward or clamping positions to engage the bottle mouth, and said central portion haying a permanent set causing it to'bulge to one side of the plane of its connection with the fingers, and adapted to spring said fingers outwardly away from their clamping positions when the central portion is moved in the direction of said plane, and said central portion bein resilient and capable of springing from sai plane to an extreme position away from said plane, and said fingers being connected to said central portion and being adapted to spring toward their inward or clamping positions when thecentral portion springs to its outermost position.

In testimony whereof ll have afixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

NRY SPENGLER. Witnesses:

lFngiNK J., Kim'r, A." S. Homesnnne. 

